


Soul on Fire

by Potrix



Category: Iron Man (Movies), The Avengers (Marvel Movies), Thor (Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Dragons, Avenger Loki, Avengers Shenanigans, Domestic Fluff, Dragon Tony, Fluff and Crack, Happy Ending, Implied Prejudice, Light Angst, M/M, Oblivious Avengers, Prompt Fic, Prompt Fill, Secret Identity, Tony Feels, Tony-centric, sould bond
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-10-22
Updated: 2014-10-22
Packaged: 2018-02-22 03:08:52
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,041
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2492243
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Potrix/pseuds/Potrix
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Initially, Tony is wary of having the team around more or less twenty-four-seven despite the half dozen floors between his penthouse and the guest levels.</p><p>As it turns out, however, even the Avengers only see what they want to see. Or they see but they don’t observe.</p><p>Whatever.</p><p>The important bit is that Tony’s secret is safe.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Soul on Fire

**Author's Note:**

  * For [theMidgey](https://archiveofourown.org/users/theMidgey/gifts).



> My second prompt fill for theMidgey. Thank you so much, this was such a fun idea to work with (which is why it turned out longer than it was supposed to be, oops) and I might or might not have created a whole new Avengers Alternate Universe in my head while writing this story. 
> 
> _"I saw a fic once where Tony had a dragon an AU came to mind where Tony was actually a dragon, stemming either from one or both parents. It's kept a secret until somehow it gets discovered. Take it from there :3"_
> 
> If you are confused by Tony's behaviour or his 'special abilities' because I kept things purposefully vague for the sake of the mystery (or something) and in order not to overdo it, please bear with me and check the end notes after reading. 
> 
> Enjoy!

**Soul on Fire**

* * *

Initially, Tony is wary of having the team around more or less twenty-four-seven despite the half dozen floors between his penthouse and the guest levels.

It’s not that he actively dislikes them or that he doesn’t trust them to have his back in the field or to be around him under normal circumstances, but they wouldn’t be the first good people to turn savage and greedy upon discovering his true nature.

Case in point; the man Tony considered a father for longer than he ever knew his biological parents quite literally trying to rip his heart out of his chest. Not exactly fun times or something Tony wants a repeat of anytime soon.

As it turns out, however, even the Avengers only see what they want to see. Or they see but they don’t observe.

Whatever.

The important bit is that Tony’s secret is safe.

***

“Dude. What?”

Tony glances up at Clint, giving an inquiring sort of grunt around the spoon he’s got crammed into his mouth.

“Nothing?” Clint demands, both eyebrows rising in incredulity and a hefty dose of disbelief.

“Uh,” Tony says eloquently, then clears his throat and adds, “it’s nice?”

Clint’s mouth drops open. “Nice? _Nice?_ ”

“Yes?”

“I can’t-“ Clint is shaking his head, slowly backing out of the kitchen. “You’re crazy, Stark.”

Frowning, Tony flips the jar of sauce around in his hand to read the back.

“The Carolina Reaper is considered the hottest chilli in the world, averaging around one point five million on the Scoville scale with peak levels of over two million Scoville Heat Units and _oh_.”

Shrugging, he eats another spoonful.

***

Thor reappears out of the blue to drop a much more subdued and almost docile Loki on the Avengers’ doorstep.

No one is particularly happy with that development until Thor explains about someone he calls the Mad Titan, making Loki flinch and twitch next to him, and how his brother was coerced into leading the Chitauri invasion under threat of things Tony decides to blank out in his head and with the help of a mind control spell similar in nature to the one used on Barton and Selvig.

And now, apparently, the God of Mischief is in dire need of a secure location to hide while the Æsir go off to make war against yet another alien army.

“My brother is eager to assist in repairing the destruction he has caused to your realm,” Thor booms, grinning that thousand watt smile of his that makes it incredibly hard to tell him no. “Loki is an excellent tutor and willing to work with your local sorcerers. It has come to my attention that Midgard is not a world advanced in the studies of magic and could benefit greatly from such an arrangement.”

At the mention of magic, Loki subtly turns to face Tony, regarding him with his head tilted and eyes narrowed curiously.

Tony puts on his most innocent expression and Loki looks away again.

***

“There is not a trace of the sedative left,” Bruce says, forehead wrinkling in confusion as he squints at the results of Tony’s blood tests. “None at all.”

Tony hops down from where he’d been perched on Bruce’s desk, grinning brightly. “Well, that’s good, isn’t it?”

“It’s odd,” Bruce corrects and takes off his glasses, cleaning them on his shirt. “That stuff was supposed to be strong enough to take out the Other Guy.”

“I got lucky,” Tony shrugs and Bruce, while looking sceptical, doesn’t have much choice but to agree.

***

Loki is pacing in Tony’s workshop, gesturing wildly with a childishly excited expression on his face as he demonstrates parallels between the use of energy in spell crafting and cellular respiration, holographic displays filled with his neatly constructed formulas swirling around the two of them.

Tony watches and when Loki walks by close enough he catches his arm and whirls him around, reeling him in for a kiss.

They fuck with Tony bent over one of his worktables, both fully dressed apart from the pants hastily shoved down around their knees.

Later, upstairs in his bedroom, Tony rides Loki until he screams and gets punched in the gut for gloating about bedding a God.

The team isn’t exactly surprised to hear about their change in relationship status. There’s a lot of eye-rolling involved in their big revelation.

***

_“Tony!”_ Steve is screaming over the comms, his footsteps echoing. _“Hang on!”_

Figures he’d be attacked out of his suit the one time Loki isn’t around to teleport his stupid ass to safety, Tony thinks and winces, uselessly glaring down at his shattered arm. 

Steve hovers over him all the way back to headquarters and practically drags him down to medical.

By the time the X-rays are done, the doctor announces the worst of the damage to be a single, clean break and calls Tony lucky. He’s allowed to leave after sitting through Steve cleaning and putting gauze on the worst of his various burns, scraps and cuts.

Tony spends the following week alone at the Malibu house under the guise of getting some rest and sun so he doesn’t have to explain most of the fire-induced injuries being gone by the next morning.

His ulna is knit back together after an additional three days but he dutifully keeps his cast on and his arm in a sling for the full six weeks to avoid raising any suspicions.

***

His kind’s pheromones are regarded as an incredibly potent aphrodisiac all around the globe and for a good reason. Which would be awesome if it weren’t also a dead giveaway as to what Tony really is.

And it makes having company impossible whenever they spike in intensity.

“Business meeting in Singapore,” Tony explains when Loki walks into the bedroom, shrugging apologetically as he throws underwear into his suitcase. “Two days, three tops.”

“’Is it that time of the month again?’ I believe is how the saying goes,” Loki drawls and Tony’s head snaps up only to find the God’s expression carefully, innocently blank, meaning he’s definitely scheming something and is anything but innocent.

Tony still lets himself be manhandled onto the bed, moaning and arching his back at the feeling of Loki’s warm, gorgeous mouth around him.

“Will you tell me?” Loki whispers later, cheek against Tony’s thigh while Tony pants through the aftershocks of his orgasm.

Tony closes his eyes, lips twisting into a pained smile. “There’s nothing to tell.”

Loki leaves without another word, slamming the door on his way out.

***

Natasha blinks at the splintery pieces of the bō, one in each hand, and then up at Tony, mouth opening and closing again without actually producing any sound.

“Uh, yeah.” Tony pulls a face, gracing her with his most flirtatious grin even though he knows Natasha is one of the few people completely immune to his bullshit. Then again, he’s never seen her this out of sorts, so maybe he’s got a chance. “Sorry about your toy.”

She narrows her eyes at him. Damn it.

“Would you care to explain this?”

“Wear and tear?” Tony offers, earning himself a raised eyebrow and a flat, unimpressed stare. It’s a little creepy.

“It was brand new.”

“Faulty manufacturing?”

“Impossible.”

“My rakishly good looks softened its tender core and-“

“Stark!”

“Well, I don’t know!” Tony groans, throwing up his hands for dramatic effect. “I got a kick in at the perfect angle? Pressure applied to a structural weak point? What do you want me to say, shit happens.”

Natasha purses her lips, glowering some more before abruptly turning around and gliding out of the gym. “You owe me a new one,” she calls over her shoulder and Tony huffs because it’s not like he’s the one already paying for basically everything in the tower.

Ungrateful, the whole bunch of them.

***

Make-up sex with Loki is frequent with both their egos in the mix and never disappointing. This time is no exception.

Tony’s got Loki’s legs slung over his shoulders, watching the faint pink blush spreading from the God’s cheeks down all the way over his chest and leans closer, overcome once again with the realisation just how much that insane, ridiculous, smartass of a man moaning filthily underneath him has come to mean to him.

He speeds up his thrusts, angling Loki’s hips higher to hit _that_ spot, and smears their mouths together all heat and wetness and very little coordination left. “Loki.”

“Anthony,” Loki mewls, nails raking down Tony’s back as he comes between them, “I love you.”

Tony buries himself deep, his own climax crashing over him in an almost dizzying wave. His canines lengthen automatically, poised over the juncture of Loki’s neck and shoulder, his spine arching and tingling with anticipation, the need to claim, to make his what’s rightfully-

With a strangled whine, Tony pulls back and tries to scramble away, horrified by his lack of self-control, but Loki’s clings, hold unyielding. “Do it,” he demands, tilting his head to allow for more access, “bite me.”

“Loki,” Tony croaks, shaking his head even as he starts to laugh, all hysteria and no humour. “I can’t- you don’t- you have no idea what-“

“Homo sapiens draconis,” Loki interrupts and Tony’s mouth snaps shut with an audible plop. “This is not a purely Midgardian phenomenon, your kind and your kind’s brethren are spread wide across the realms, adored and worshipped on some while feared and hunted on others.”

The shock and hurt must show, of course it does, because where he was impatient and pushy a moment ago, Loki’s expression turns soft now as he reaches up to cup Tony’s face between his hands. “I am truly sorry your home does not belong to the more favourable of worlds.”

“Still,” Tony says once he finds his voice again, “I can’t- this, bonding, it’s- it’s, uh, permanent.”

Loki smiles, bringing Tony’s head down for a kiss. “I know.”

“Which means forever.”

“Yes.”

“Until one of us dies.”

“I understand the definition of forever, Anthony.”

“Which could be millennia. For either of us.”

“That is what I am hoping for.”

Tony bites him.

***

Paranoid, Tony instructs JARVIS to lock down the penthouse, stop all the security recording and lower every last blind before he transforms fully.

He sprawls all over Loki, most of the bed and some of the floor, lazily licking over the sluggishly bleeding wound he left behind and rumbling contentedly as Loki rubs at the tiny red and golden scales around his left eye.

“There are certain advantages to this form of yours,” Loki muses eventually and Tony lifts his head, snuffling at him in question. “There is the inability to speak, for one-“

Tony flicks his tail at him.

***

Tony knew being newly bonded meant being skittish around other people interacting with his mate. He did not, however, expect this.

All it takes is Steve resting his hand on Loki’s shoulder as he bends over him to collect some plates from the table the next morning for a switch to flip in Tony’s head and before he’s even aware of what’s happened, he’s standing there on all fours, towering over his gaping friends and snarling at them while he nudges Loki behind himself with the tip of one wing.

Clint is the one to break the tense silence with a hooted, “Tell me you carry passengers!”

Natasha takes one deep breath, briefly closes her eyes and then leads the distinctively twitchy and slightly green-looking Bruce out of the room.

“This explains so much about Howard,” Steve whispers absently before he comes back to himself, gracing Tony with that stupidly sincere smile of his. “You know this won’t change a thing, right? You are our teammate and our friend and we love you, Tony,” he announces seriously, nods to himself and turns away, stack of plates in hand, and vanishes into the kitchen.

Loki has to stand on tiptoes to brush his lips over the underside of his muzzle and the sight of that manages to lift some of Tony’s dark mood. He still refuses to shift back and continues to growl at everyone coming within five feet of them for the rest of the day.

As usual, no one takes his posturing very seriously.

**Author's Note:**

> Tony's special dragon powers; immunity to the negative effects of extremely hot and spicy foods, enhanced metabolism and healing, some resistance to fire and heat, pheromones that are distributed more freely during the male dragon equivalent to ovulation in order to attract potential mates, superhuman strength and of course the ability to shift from human to dragon form at will. 
> 
> If you liked this story, go check out my other [work](http://archiveofourown.org/users/Potrix/works) or find me on [tumblr](http://potrix-the-queerschlaeger.tumblr.com/).


End file.
